


Guns 'N' Ammo (Rework)

by Kirrithian



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Bismuths, Corrupted Gems, Found Friends, Gem Rebellion, Gen, Healing, Lots of Bismuth, OC, OC Bismuths, Post CYM, Post-War Healing, The Rebellion, the gem war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 09:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24967315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirrithian/pseuds/Kirrithian
Summary: Bismuth faces some of the fallout from the rebellion when an old adversary comes to the Crystal Gems for help.“Woah!” Steven gazed in amazement at the scene before him on the warp pad, and the new arrival in amongst the plants. “A Bismuth!” She was much like theirs, sporting a similar rainbow hair and a dark workman’s apron but she was noticeably smaller, a head shorter and half as built, her gem settled high atop her right shoulder. She stepped forward, peering at him against the light.“Are you Steven Universe, Leader of the Crystal Gems?” The voice was even the same.“Ah, well, I wouldn’t call myself their leader,” Steven waved the idea away, “but yes, I’m Steven Quartz Universe. Welcome to Earth! How can I help?”“I’m looking for someone.” This new Bismuth glanced up at the crowd that had gathered around her, eyes flicking back and forth to Steven, constantly checking it was okay. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had joined him when he brought her down into the house. “Long ago I lost something precious here on Earth. My forge mate.” She shifted, rubbing her hands over each other. “I’d like to get her back, if I can.”
Kudos: 13





	Guns 'N' Ammo (Rework)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Guns and Ammo (Original)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21494731) by [Kirrithian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirrithian/pseuds/Kirrithian). 



“Woah!” Steven gazed in amazement at the scene before him on the warp pad, and the new arrival in amongst the plants. “A Bismuth!” She was much like theirs, sporting a similar rainbow hair and a dark workman’s apron but she was noticeably smaller, a head shorter and half as built, her gem settled high atop her right shoulder. She stepped forward, peering at him against the light.

“Are you Steven Universe, Leader of the Crystal Gems?” The voice was even the same.

“Ah, well, I wouldn’t call myself their leader,” Steven waved the idea away, “but yes, I’m Steven Quartz Universe. Welcome to Earth! How can I help?”

“I’m looking for someone.” This new Bismuth glanced up at the crowd that had gathered around her, eyes flicking back and forth to Steven, constantly checking it was okay. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had joined him when he brought her down into the house. “Long ago I lost something precious here on Earth. My forge mate.” She shifted, rubbing her hands over each other. “I’d like to get her back, if I can.”

Garnet frowned. “We never found any Bismuth here.”

“It’s true,” Pearl added. “Not even fragments and we looked, many, many times.” She shot a nervous glance to Garnet. “But it is possible she was corrupted, or shattered and joined with the Cluster.” Pearl shuddered. “If that’s the case then it wont be easy to find her. Nevermind that the Earth is not that small. It’s a lot of ground to cover. Even we haven’t recovered all the corrupted gems that were here, and we’ve been her for thousands of years.”

But the Bismuth was already shaking her head.

“I have to at least look. She was buried, trapped before the Diamonds attack, so she might not have been found after the corruption. She might still be there. I didn’t have time to go back for her then, but I think I know where she might be found, and you know Earth better than I. That’s gotta count for something right?” She looked around. “Please, will you help me?”

The warp pad flared. “I came as quickly as I cou- Woah!” Bismuth froze for all of half a second as she clocked the Bismuth in front of her, her eyes widening. “You!” She leapt forward, hammer at hand, even as the other Bismuth stepped back smartly into a deep stance, her own hands forming just as quickly into a pair of round cannons, already glowing to fire as Bismuth grabbed her by the lapel and towered over her, hammer raised to strike.

“Wait! Bismuth, don’t do this: she came for our help!” Steven called out. Around him the others had drawn their weapons too, ready at a moments notice to step in.

“I know this Bismuth. She armed our enemies!” Bismuth growled. “Bismuth build structures, but this one built weapons, and not just any old weapon no, _she_ built emplacements for huge gunships that were capable of wiping us out with a single barrage, and every single one for the Diamonds.” Bismuth almost spat the words out, bristling with rage.

“Bismuth, we don’t do that any more! Neither does she. It’s over. Let her go!” Steven implored, but Bismuth ignored him.

“How many gems did you shatter? How many of our friends-” Steven jumped in, trying to physically pull Bismuth off, holding back her hammer as she shook.

“Did you keep count?” The other Bismuth countered pointedly and Bismuth broke off, deflated.

“Both of you did stuff in the war, but that’s over. We’re not fighting any more. Things have changed. I know there are things in the past you didn’t like, but we’ve moved on. We’re different from them- we give people a second chance. Bismuth, please,” he implored her, “at least hear her out.”

“Steven,” Bismuth paced up and down, barely glancing to him from her watch of this apparent ‘intruder’ “this isn’t a good idea. She’s dangerous,” she warned, but the newcomer had already pulled her weapons away, raising her head to Bismuth in acknowledgement.

“I remember you now. We were on opposite sides during the war, and I met you in battle more than once. You fought well. But now that’s all behind us. He’s right: You won. I’m just here to find my friend.”

“Your forge-mate.” Steven’s words brought the slightest of hesitations to Bismuth, a flicker that passed behind the eyes but she quickly rallied herself.

“I dunno Steven,” she said, "It could be a trap."

“Or it could be a honest ask for help. Of course we'll help you,” Steven answered firmly, putting the matter to rest.

“I’m Bismuth, but people have called me Guns for many years now.” Guns ignored Bismuth flexing behind her as they flew through the warp, her biceps nearly eclipsing Gun’s head.

“Is that because you worked on the ships guns?” Steven asked. Guns nodded, staying silent, contained, even as Bismuth snorted her disapproval. Steven tried a different tack “Is your missing friend a Bismuth too?” The enquiry drew a small smile from Guns.

“They’d call her Ammo. Whilst I worked the forges, she’d keep them fed, make sure I had all the materials, everything I needed to build the cannons. We made quite a team.” Guns pulled out a small half ring of coloured metal that she turned over in her hands. “She,” her voice cracked a little, “was everything to me.”

They trawled the plain, the vast rocky expanse still much unchanged from all those years ago, populated with craters and decorated with numerous shattered boulders, even thousands of years of weathering unable to remove the scars of skirmishes of old. Guns clambered over one and down into the other, searching and rooting around for something only she could see. She finally stopped.

“Here.” She pointed to the distance, “right where three mountains merge into two. This is the spot. This is where she fell.”

“She was poofed?” Steven asked.

“No, she fell off the ship. Some rebels” she glanced to Bismuth “were trying to dismantle it as we took off so we couldn’t re-join the fight. It didn’t matter. There was no way we could have gotten the weapons online again, but they didn’t know that. They kept fighting anyway. Ammo went outside to try and get them off before they brought the whole ship down. She succeeded but they took her with them. I remember seeing her falling…” the gem paused, then looked up at Bismuth. “She wasn’t a fighter. Not like you or me, but she’d still try. She knew the risk but she still did it because it meant we were able to get away.”

Bismuth paused. “I know the type.”

Guns nodded, mutual understanding. “She always had my back. It’s about time I got hers.”

She walked to the center of the crater, turned her hands into shovels and started digging with gusto, perspiring as she worked. Bismuth joined her, and together they cleaved a hole in the Earth.

“Wait, look!” Steven called a halt to their excavations as he spotted something glinting in the soil. “Up there.” Bismuth climbed, following Steven’s directions and dug it out, the flash of angular rainbow revealing the bismuth gem. Bismuth’s face turned to one of horror as she held it up, the rainbow stairs climbing into nothing, the bottom half of the gem cut clean off.

Bismuth stared through the square hole until Guns popped into view the other side with a grin. “That’s her! She can’t be far now.” Guns set to once more, working the soil next to her, tearing out and throwing away the larger rocks with her bare hands.

Bismuth pulled Steven to one side, “It’s dead.”

Steven saw the damage. “I can try to heal it.”

“Won’t work.”

“I can try.” He licked his hand and wiped it over the exposed base of the gem. “Nothing happened.”

“I can’t say I expected it to. It’s dead. Even a poofed gem has a hint of something about it, even fragments, but that doesn’t.” She shuddered. “If that’s her friend…”

“What if we find the rest of the gem? Maybe I could heal that?” Bismuth was shaking her head.

“She’s gone, and Guns should know it too.” Bismuth looked back to the other Bismuth, still working away. “War broke more than the physical.”

A roar tore their attention away. “Corrupted gems,” Bismuth called, loud enough for Guns to hear as the roar sounded again. “Sounds like a big one.” They drew closer together, preparing themselves for a fight.”

There was another roar, this time from behind them. “She’s circling us.” Steven turned and another roar sounded, directly behind him again. The Earth trembled. “Uhh, I think there might be more than one-”  
  
The ground in front of them erupted, showering them in gravel. When the rain cleared three large beast-like corruptions advanced towards them. Steven thought he saw the flash of a Ruby on one before they charged in with a swipe, sending him tumbling over backwards in his bubble. He came to a stop at the bottom of the crater and immediately leaped back into the fray. Guns had morphed her arms into cannons and was on her back firing barrages of rocks at the red and the purple corruptions, whilst Bismuth was desperately holding off the razor shape claws of the third corruption, a grey-brown that almost matched the Earth around it. As he watched Bismuth threw it to one side and it dove into the soil, disappearing away into the dirt in a few short swipes, the last scrap of its scaled hide vanishing from sight. A cry erupted from Guns as she was headbutted into the ground, the remaining corruption pinning her in place. Bismuth launched herself across the field, shoulder barging the creature away, and a well-timed shield throw from Steven knocked it back and off balance long enough for Bismuth to reach in and tear the purple gem from its chest, dousing them in a cloud of white smoke as it dissipated.

“An Amethyst! Amethyst’ll be happy,” Steven called, helping Guns to her feet. Bismuth carefully bubbled the gem when a hot light grew behind her. “Bismuth, look out!” Steven tried to warn her, just in time. Bismuth looked around and threw herself to the floor as the red corruption exhaled an orange plume of fire right where her head had been. It hissed and snapped its head down, inhaling for another shot.

Guns aimed and fired, desperately trying to drive the creature off, but the force of the shot threw her to the ground again, the shot flying wide. Bismuth rolled to escape the blast, but caught the full weight of the creatures tail in the back of her head, leaving her dazed on the floor.

“Guns!” Steven pulled her to her feet, “Again!” He placed his shield behind her, planting his feet and she brought her weapons up once more, yelling as she focused all her energy into them.

The creature drew itself up to its full height ready to strike down.

She fired.

The creature flinched as the shot hit, and turned its gaze to them, letting out a piercing shriek, a shrill battle cry of pure unfiltered anger and desire to tear them apart, then it too poofed, dissipating in a bright puff of energy. Bismuth groaned as the Ruby gem landed on her head for good measure, and the others quickly hurried to her side and helped her up. Steven quickly bubbled the gem and sent it away, jumping as Bismuth began to laugh.

“Oh Stars, nobody’s gotten a hit in on me like that in years! And it wasn’t even as though I needed to dodge. Man I am out of shape.”

“You fought well,” Guns commented.

“Don’t you take the mick. You’ve got a little issue with kickback going on there yourself haven’t you? Must be inconvenient. Ugh.” Bismuth groaned and rubbed her head again.

“Should I heal that?”

“No, no I’m fine Steven.” She focused intently on a spot two meters to the left of Steven and he licked his hand and planted it on her head anyway as she rambled on. “It just feels like the whole world is moving when it shouldn’t.” A low rumble built up. “On second thoughts, my head is pounding.”

"Err..." Steven glanced around as the ground began to tremble. “That’s not your head!”

The shaking intensified and as the floor shifted and bucked beneath them Steven found himself tumbling away from the others, landing with a bump. He could just about see as the third corruption loomed over them, growling, its carapace covering in rolling segments of armour, and each of the broad fore-paws ended in three long and sharp claws that glinted in the sun.

It swiped at them with another roar, sending the three of them tumbling once more into the bottom of the crater, and chasing after them, dislodging rocks as it charged. Another barrage of rocks came bouncing off to Steven’s right, Bismuth holding up Guns as she used her weapons to fire a torrent of blasts and debris at the corruption. The corruption simply ducked its head, letting the volley ping harmlessly off the scales, and started rolling, sealing everything away in a tightly armoured ball and hurtling even faster down the crater straight at them. Even Steven’s shield dinged off its back without making an impression and they were forced to split up to avoid the attack. The creature rolled up the other side, pausing to let the momentum take it back down again and leapt, flying to land on the dazed Steven, knocking him to the floor again. With a grunt he threw up a shield, groaning as it took the entire weight of the creature.

“Steven!” The two Bismuth ran to him, helping him hold it up, taking the weight on their shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“Hnrrgh!”

“How are we going to take it down? That armour’s going nowhere and it’s completely covered.”

“Hngh!” Steven grunted, jerking his head upwards, slowly getting redder and redder with the effort.

Bismuth looked up sweating, recognising the glimpses of soft underbelly as the creature stretched. “Guns, our target!”

“I see it!”

Bismuth turned her arms into two sharp points, holding them high above her head as Guns positioned herself in front. “Ready?” Guns nodded. “Steven, Now!”

Steven dropped the shield and the creature fell with a sickening thunk. A flurry of dull gunshots echoed through the Earth into Stevens bubble, and then the sky cleared in a rush of energy.

Guns was lying on top of Bismuth, and the two were laughing.

“Three for three,” Bismuth commented, patting her on the shoulder as they helped each other up. “Not bad Guns.”

“Oh.” Steven picked up the curling brownish gem and bubbled it away. Three for three. “That’s what Garnet said. Sorry. I don’t think there are any gems out here, and we didn’t find your friend.”

“What? No no, we found her alright.” Guns waved the broken chunk of Bismuth with a broad smile. “We just need to fix her up.” She looked at them expectantly. Steven looked to Bismuth.

“Well, the fountain can still heal corruptions,” Steven explained. “We’d better get those three there, but I don’t know if it can fix her.”

“Sure it can.” She waved towards the warp pad. “Shall we?”

“After you.” He let her head on ahead. “Bismuth, I don’t think Ammo can be fixed. Why can’t she see that?”

Bismuth laid a hand on his shoulder. “The war was hard on everyone. What you see, what you do, all the friends you lose… grief can do that to a person. And it doesn’t matter which side you’re on.”

Guns was chatting animatedly to the fragment in her hand, almost skipping along.

“It’s going to hit her hard isn’t it?”

At the fountain they got straight to work climbing in and wading towards the center, Bismuth carrying the bubbles in her arms. “There we go, one Ruby, one Amethyst, and hmm,” Bismuth peered at the final gem thoughtfully, “one very corrupted Pearl.” She threw it in the water with the others, crouching to watch as healing took effect.

Guns crouched too, almost disappearing under the water as she held the fragment far below the surface and waited for the gem to form. The others waited too. Over the past few months the healing effect the Diamonds had bestowed on the pool had seemed to diminish. They would have to renew it soon, or find a more effective way to restore the remaining corrupted gems.

A stream of bubbles erupted, and the Ruby popped to the surface, looking around in confusion, shortly followed by the Amethyst, and Steven went over to greet them, pointing towards the murals that now adorned the walls, telling of the story of the gem war.

Guns waited, and finally a white light grew below her too.

“That Pearl’s back,” Bismuth called to Steven, but when she looked back she saw the swept back rainbow hair of a Bismuth surfacing, the thinner streaks packed into a solid helmet.

“Guns?” She blinked her eyes open and let herself be pulled out, revealing what looked almost exactly like a brown toned Bismuth.

“Welcome back.”

The new arrival gasped, hand flying to cover her bare midriff. “My gem!” She looked up, seeing Bismuth and Steven for the first time, and gasped in horror. “They saw!”

“It’s okay, they’re friends,” Guns reassured her.

It didn’t work, and she panicked, pointing at the two of them and hyperventilating. “But, she-!” she tried to hide herself behind Guns, failing miserably as she stood taller than her. “They’re Crystal Gems!”

Guns laughed. “It’s okay, they’re okay. The war’s over. We don’t have to fight them, and they understand, they accept this.” Guns held her hands rubbing them softly as they lay on her shoulder. “And you know what?” she nodded towards Steven. “He’s from Earth too.”

“Earth _too_?” Bismuth pondered, half to herself.

Steven edged closer. “Er hi!” He gave a little wave, trying to keep the new gem in sight as she turned away from him, blushing furiously and still trying to hide her gem. “You must be Ammo. I’m Steven. My mom was Rose Quartz, who was actually Pink Diamond. It’s a little complicated. I have her gem though, and I’m half human.”

“It’s true. Utterly crazy,” Guns explained, “but true.”

Ammo turned around, the chunk of Bismuth sitting in her stomach mirroring Stevens gem.

“You’re not a Bismuth are you?” Steven pointed out, and Bismuth gasped.

“Wait, Ammo-? Made on Earth… Oh. OH!” Bismuth's hand flew to her head. “I am such an Idiot. That gem- Oh wow. Oh WOW! Are you for real?” She let out a delighted laugh. “Are you really an Ammolite?”

Ammo looked to Guns for support, then reached up and took off her helmet, revealing the spiraling colourful fractals of her gem beneath.

“Wow, WOW! I thought there weren’t any! Homeworld were never going to make any here.” Bismuth was on tips of her toes, itching to get a closer look at Ammo's gem. “They’re not a gem they make. But look at you! You’re magnificent! How did you happen?” Guns glanced at Ammo for confirmation. She gave a slight nod.

“It was late in the war,” Guns explained. “Homeworld needed more Bismuths to make their weapons so they tried making some more on Earth. But Ammo’s injector must have hit a fossil. I was assigned a new gem and when she came out… I knew she’d be shattered, so I helped her hide, I helped her pretend to be a Bismuth.”

“I was just as good as any Bismuth, better even.” Ammo raised her head. “I fought well, I fought like a true gem.”

Guns linked her hand in Ammo’s and she smiled. “You were always a true gem to me.”

“And all of us!” Steven threw his hands up, breaking the moment. “You don’t have to pretend to be something else anymore!” Ammo looked down at her bismuth ‘gem’ and closed her hand around it.

“Er I kinda feel naked without it.” She blushed, sending a rainbow of colour flashing across the scales left remnant on her cheeks, echoing her snail shell-like gem, the hints of a deep blue rainbow showing in bare sections here and there.

“Oh wow! Just look at you!” Bismuth waved at all of her, then turned to Guns. “And you!” She swept her up in a hug, spinning her around. “Hiding this right under Homeworld’s nose. Ha! You would have made a great Crystal gem! The both of you. This is exactly what we were fighting for!”

Guns and Ammo looked at each other. “We already were.”

Bismuth grabbed Steven, shaking him in her excitement “An Ammolite! An actual Ammolite! I didn’t think they were going to exist outside fusions.” She gasped. “Come on! We gotta tell Pearl!”

Garnet made her way up the steps to the Beach house, pausing to nod at the gem outside. “Nice to see you fused again Bismuth. Good to keep up the practice.” She headed in.

“Yo Garnet’s back.” Amethyst piped up without looking, watching the game in front of her.

“Hey Garnet.” Steven waved from the sofa.  
  
“Hey Garnet,” Bismuth echoed, studying her cards.  
  
“Enjoy your trip?” Pearl asked, tucking her own hand into a neat pile.

Garnet paused and eyed the second Bismuth on the bar stool in front of her. They were back already. “Hi,” said Guns.

Garnet looked around to see everyone looking at her, Bismuth and Steven waiting expectantly as their faces dissolved into big dopey grins.

“Hmm.”

The door opened revealing Ammolite.

“Hi, I’m..."

"Ammo. You must be an Ammolite. Huh,” Garnet replied, adjusting her visor and glancing to the others. "I've met someone like you before."

Bismuth leapt forward, finally unable to contain her excitement. “See? She’s just like the fusion, except she’s a gem, and from Earth! Ooo Pearl, Pearl!” Bismuth grabbed a grinning Pearl and after a brief whirl spit out a similar, but larger, version of the new gem, who waved at Ammo.

“It’s a mini-me!” She drew the bemused Ammo close and posed so Steven could take a picture, fawning over her. “You are beautiful, You are fantastic! you are so adorably small! This is amazing- an actual Ammolite, from Earth no less! It's she wonderful?” She danced around a bit more, pausing to nudge the delighted Garnet. “I ammolite-ing what I see!”

Garnet's delight disappeared and she swiftly punched the other fusion back in two. “No Puns. It was always puns with you.” They didn't mind, giggling on the floor.

“Hey, they can’t help it. It’s hard to resist.” Ammo waved at Guns. “She always liked my jokes.” Guns blushed, trying to half hug Ammo. “Thank you for saving me by the way." Ammo continued. "Corruption was... odd.” Her fingers trailed over the scales she had retained.

“It was Guns who came to find you. We were just happy to help. So what will you do now?” Steven asked.

“We might explore Earth for a bit,” Guns said. “No more guns.”

“Or ammo.”

“Or orders." Guns squeezed Ammo's hand. "Just us.”

“Being us.”

“Whatever that is.”

Garnet looked as though she was about to explode from pride, and Bismuth wasn’t too far off either.

“You’ll figure it out.” Garnet looked at the gems in her hands, and the rings that adorned each of them. “In the meantime, you’re always welcome back here. Go on,” she nodded to Ammo and the warp pad. “You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

“And” Steven added “a lifetime of telling her you fell for her.”

**Author's Note:**

> Re-Write of Guns and Ammo (Original) a one-shot I slung together in a couple of hours before Christmas 2019. The original was written before I did They Know me, and my writing has improved (and the original was loose and scrappy anyway). I decided to re-write it as a warm up for working on Mother of Pearl. I will keep the previous version for reference, but this is the definitive version as far as I am concerned. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
